08/04/2023 Daimonji (Classic Constructed) 3-0

 With the pass of the pre-release season, we're once again back to playing constructed games at Daimonji Collectible. This week I decided to bring <Uzuri, Switchblade> to the battle field and continue playing mind games just like we did with <Dorinthea, Ironsong> and boy it was fun!! The ability to switch in a big "Attack Action" when opponent doesn't block enough or simply arsenal a card when opponent over blocks compounded by the super power equipment <Flick Knives> just made every block seems wrong for the opponent!

The list I used was made by Bagel TCG, a very red heavy build that focuses on blocking with 1 or 2 cards and dealing as much damage as possible to apply pressure. Deck list as follow:

https://youtu.be/xlOIFAvJM5A

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Round 1 Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity

Equipment used: <Crown of Providence>, <Fyendal's Spring Tunic>, <Vambrace of Determination> and <Snapdragon Scalers>, <Spider's Bite>, <Scale Peeler>

This is my first time playing against an <Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity>, so everything was in an exploration state. Equipment wise, I was deciding between <Snapdragon Scalers> and <Blacktek Whisperers>. Both has their merit, one can force through a big turn while the other has 1 block which may come in clutch against break point attacks with relevant on-hit effect. I decided to go with <Snapdragon Scalers> so as to force through a big turn a just take the tempo from there. Weapon wise, I decided to go with <Scale Peeler> instead of <Nerve Scalpel> because we can safely assume <Oldhim, Grandfather> will run <Rampart of Ram's Head> into <Uzuri, Switchblade> . The weapon choice goes hand in hand with arm piece equipment because without <Flick Knives>, <Nerve Scalpel> doesn't make too much sense.

And so the game began with a couple of exchange of attacks and weapon swings and we were both blocking well. The first critical turn came when I had a <Death Touch> in the arsenal and my hand was <Death Touch>, <Isolate>, <Enlightened Strike> and another random card. On the previous turn, opponent didnt threaten much damage so I didn't block with card from hand. On my turn, I played <Enlightened Strike> by sinking the 4th card from hand and chose "Go Again", opponent blocked with one card and took 2, I followed it up with <Isolate> for "Dominate", opponent blocked with 1 card and I reacted with <Uzuri, Switchblade> ability to switch in a <Death Touch> to which opponent reacted with both <Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity> "Earth" react and <Crown of Seeds> for a full block+prevention of 6. Since I had my <Fyendal's Spring Tunic> fully charged, I activated it and put the 1 resource into my <Vambrace of Determination> to negate 1 of the damage prevention. Upon resolution of <Death Touch>, I chose "Inertia" token to deny opponent's <Crown of Seeds> next turn. It was from this point onward, I had the slight advantage of needing to face at most 1 attack and opponent didn't have access to his <Crown of Seeds> activation. Opponent swung back with a red <Choke Slam> which I didn't really care since I'm usually not pumping my attacks, so I took the damage.

The game then procceded into opponent swing his <Titan's Fist> and I blocking with 1 card and taking 1 damage. On my crack backs, I could swing <Spider's Bite> and present a "Stealth" attack to force opponent to block with 2 cards or face a potentially devastating on-hit effect.

The game ended a sequence that was as close as possible with opponent on 1 life and I was able to get through for exactly 1 damage with a combination of <Shred>, <Razor's Edge> and activation of <Vambrace of Determination> for the W.

This entire game felt very tensed throughout the entire session because any mis-calculation could mean that I miss lethal by 1 damage and losing it all.

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Round 1 Fai, Rising Rebellion

Equipment used: <Crown of Providence>, <Fyendal's Spring Tunic>, <Flick Knives> and <Blacktek Whisperers>, <Spider's Bite>, <Nerve Scalpel>

Opponent is a die-hard Ninja player, kudos to that!

The game started with a few exchanges of attack actions, in which I was blocking much more than opponent. Opponent's lack of respect of my switch in attacks caused him quite a number of his arsenal cards or card from hand from cards like <Command and Conquer> and <Shake Down>. By the time opponent first has his <Art of War>, I was having a 15ish life lead, so I only blocked his very critical on-hit like <Rising Resentment> and <Mounting Anger> and took about 13ish damage, but I was still able to threaten a <Ravenous Rabble> followed by a <Codex of Frailty> into a <Death Touch> using the <Fyendal's Spring Tunic> resource, so effectively a 2 card for 10 damage which cannot be better value wise.

The game ended with me still on 5 life and my hand was red <Infect> and <Spike with Bloodrot> and my <Fyendal's Spring Tunic> was fully charged. Opponent blocked my <Infect> with only 1 card and I reacted with the <Spike with Bloodrot> to give him 2 "Bloodrot" tokens. He told me after our game that his last hand was not meant for blocking as there was an <Art of War> in it and all red otherwise, so he presented the maximum damage he could and I simply blocked with everything and all my equipment to not take any damage and he died to the 2 "Bloodrot" tokens.

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Round 3 Bravo, Showstopper

Equipment used: <Crown of Providence>, <Fyendal's Spring Tunic>, <Flick Knives> and <Blacktek Whisperers>, <Spider's Bite>, <Nerve Scalpel>

I won the die roll and chose to go first to avoid a big "Dominate" attack from opponent, I was able to chip in 1 damage and have an arsenal-ed <Fate Foreseen>. Opponent played a <Tear Asunder> into <Anothos> swing for 7, to which I blocked with a card and the <Fate Foreseen>. I swung back with some damage and opponent blocked with 1 card and swung back once again with <Tear Asunder> into <Anothos> which I had to block with <Crown of Providence>, <Blacktek Whisperers> and <Sink Below> from hand to avoid the discard.

The game went on with some exchange of attack actions and weapon swings. I was taking some serious damage from opponent's weapon swing in order to maintain some tempo and banishing/discarding some cards from opponent, notably I was able to make opponent discard his third copy of <Tear Asunder>. Due to the damage I was taking, my life dropped to 7 when opponent was still at 15 but came the critical turn.

I played <Surgical Extraction> to which opponent blocked with a card and his <Ironrot Leggings> and I <Shred>-ed his 3 block card reducing his hand size to 2 cards and able to generate the second copper which I needed to buy back my <Blacktek Whisperers>. From this point onward, opponent was forced to either block my weapon swing or block my "Stealth" attack action with 2 cards, so at most his crack back is a 2 card hand. Which means I'm gaining a card every turn cycle, bringing me closer to fatiguing my opponent. 

The game went on at this rate where I was able to chip in 1 damage with my <Spider's Bite> every turn. Getting into the <Kodachi> lock rather fast.

The end game was due to opponent not being familiar with <Flick Knives>, I attacked with <Spider's Bite> and he didn't block, dropping down to 1 life and on my second attack I reacted with <Flick Knives> flinging my <Spider's Bite> at him for the win.

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Throughout the games, the most threatening cards I felt was <Flick Knives>, <Codex of Frailty> and <Isolate>.

<Flick Knives> is really good when opponent plays "D-React" and can force damage through on critical on-hit attack actions. Second effect of having <Flick Knives> is that opponent always need to be aware that he cannot drop to 1 life against <Uzuri, Switchblade>.

<Codex of Frailty> is such an excellent card in that it enables some sick turns of 2 card for 10. Example would be red <Ravenous Rabble> flipping a red, <Codex of Frailty> back a <Death Touch> into my arsenal and playing it with <Fyendal's Spring Tunic> resource. Secondly, <Codex of Frailty> reduces opponent's hand size by 1 and the card they put into their arsenal usually cannot be cashed out the next turn because <Uzuri, Switchblade> player would usually bring back something like <Leave no Witness> or <Command and Conquer> to threaten that card. Several play patterns when you cannot play <Codex of Frailty> as your last card can be mitigated by pitching to <Spider's Bite> and potentially leaving some resource floating and be able to bring back a non-zero costed card to play. The price spike was definitely not a buy out from whales, but due to how good the card was. I'm happy to be able to grab them, even though not cheap, but glad I have them.

<Isolate> is the best initiator for <Uzuri, Switchblade> to threaten a 6 power attack action therefore forcing block. Better still if we are able to swing with <Spider's Bite> first. Try it out and you'll know exactly how good <Isolate> is.

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It's always good to be able to win the CF promo at the start of the month, progressing my collection of armoury promos. I might go back to <Dorinthea, Ironsong> next week or continuing with <Uzuri, Switchblade> since both felt somewhat similar in that our game play relies on "Attack Reactions", mind game is always fun~~

Onwards, "Attack Reactions"!!!!